Consumer spending has picked up, but for some Americans, the recession has left something behind: a greater interest in making stuff last.

For a number of products - cars, phones, computers, even shampoo and toothpaste - the data show a slowing of product life cycles and consumption. In many cases the difference is mere months, but economists and consumers say the approach just might outlast a full recovery and the return of easy credit, because of the strong impression the downturn made on consumers.

It is hardly the stuff of generations past, those stung by the Great Depression, who held onto antediluvian dishware and stored canned goods until rust formed on the lids. But for the moment, many citizens of a throw-

away society are making fewer visits to the trash and recycling bins.

Whether a broad, long-term shift in consumer habits is under way is a question tickling economists and analysts. Some insist that, as with the Depression, the recent downturn has made a lingering impression on how people view the propriety of, say, stuffing a still-working cell phone into a desk drawer in favor of a newer model.

But other experts and historians argue that as spending and credit return, so will yearnings to favor brands, fashion and novelty over practicality.

With some products, the upgrade cycle is actually accelerating. According to NPD, a market-research firm, consumers in 2010 reported spending more to upgrade major kitchen appliances such as refrigerators than they did in 2008 or 2009, when such spending fell. The firm found similar trends at work in smaller kitchen and personal-care appliances.

In the case of televisions, upgrades have slowed, but only because so many people snapped up flat-panel sets in recent years. There is now a lull in the product cycle, but not necessarily in consumer demand.

Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, said it is too soon to tell whether economic recovery will bring back a more-disposable society.

"There aren't enough aggregate statistics since the crash for us to know," he said.

But in some important categories there are indications of slowed upgrades. Consumers are holding onto new cars for a record 63.9 months, up 4.5 months from a year ago and 14 percent since the end of 2008, according to Polk, a research firm. In fact, the firm said, when used cars are included, the average length of car ownership stands at 52.2 months, also a record.

Industry analysts also report that people on average upgrade their cell phones every 18 months, up from every 16 months just a few years ago. They hold onto their laptops an average of four years and four months, a month longer than they did a year ago, though that figure has been creeping up since 2000.

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